50 Pounds Down

Most of my friends and family know that I started Weight Watchers back on January 9th. I have been very open and upfront about my weight-loss journey, and have been posting weekly about my weigh-ins and how my journey is going so far. I used Instagram for a lot of my posts and then some are also forwarded to my FB so that non-Instagram friends on FB can still keep up.

When I first started WW back in January, I wanted to set a healthy, achievable goal for my long-term health and happiness. I knew that if I set a goal for five pounds a MONTH, it would be something that I *should* be able to do, as long as I didn't cheat myself. When I sat down and planned out where that goal would take me, I figured out that if I lost five pounds a MONTH, by July 7th, 2018 I could reach my goal of losing 150 pounds and being at goal on Weight Watchers.

Let me just say that knowing that you have 150 pounds to lose is hard to stomach. That's A LOT of weight for someone to lose, and it's the enormity of that amount that has always kept me from even trying to lose anything at all.

The best way I can express how it felt before starting WW, is to say it was like being trapped in a prison. I pretty much felt like it was hopeless to think of losing the amount of weight that I needed to lose, and I just have ZERO desire to do any sort of surgery to lose weight... so pretty much, I felt like there were no options. It's a terrible feeling to know that you need to do something about your health, and yet, you just don't know where to start.

So many times I would pray that God would help me lose weight. I never gave up on asking for help and He never seemed to be answering. However, I know that it wasn't that He wasn't answering my prayer, it was that I was not ready for the answer. 

When we were in North Carolina for New Year's this past year, I stood on the balcony and looked at the ocean and was thinking about the fact that I am going to be 40 this year. I am not one to care much about age and birthdays, but being 40 is something that is hard to take (for whatever reason). So I was thinking about my birthday and I heard this voice in my head say, "You need to join Weight Watchers." I had this sense of peace come over me, and I just felt like it was time.

I won't say that the last almost 26 weeks has been easy, because it hasn't been, but it hasn't been nearly as difficult as I expected it to be. I have had 26 straight weigh-ins with a loss and it just keeps adding fuel to my determination that I WILL be able to do this long-term and I WILL reach my goal of weighing 150.

When I calculated my five pounds a month, I wanted to reach my 50 pounds down by my 40th birthday (October). My best friend had joined with me and we decided that we each wanted to lose at least 50 pounds by the time we went on our annual girls trip to Florida, in November.

This past Saturday, I reached my 50 pounds lost goal. 

At my meeting, my leader always starts with smallest losses and builds up to the biggest losses and this week when she got to me, she made everyone do a drum-roll and then she announced my 50 pounds and everyone went crazy with cheering and clapping. It felt amazing to be celebrated and I got a little emotional about it.

I've learned that this truly is a journey and while I haven't had any gains (YET) they are sure to come and I need to just keep going and stay on my path to sustainable weight-loss. I know that Weight Watchers works and if you follow the program, there will be so many benefits.

Over the course of the last almost 26 months, I have earned the following "bling" for my achievements:

• 5% total body weight lost
• 10% total body weight lost
• 15% total body weight lost **(there's no charm for this though)
• 25 pounds lost
• 50 pounds lost
• 4 months on the WW program
• Running bling for completing a 1/2 marathon with my cousin

Here are some pictures of me at 2 weeks in and 21 weeks in: 

I feel amazing. My back doesn't hurt anymore, my knees don't hurt, my arches in my feet don't ache like they used to, when I go to bed, I don't have RLS (restless leg syndrome) and I fall asleep almost immediately. I drink 100+ ounces of water a day and eat more fruits and vegetables that I ever have in my life.

Probably TMI, but my periods are starting to become more regular and to me, it's a HUGE deal. I just feel like what I am doing is now just part of who I am. I do have some days where I miss being able to just go and eat whatever the heck I want, but those days are (thankfully) few and far between. When I do have bad days where I want to eat everything in sight, I have been able to find something else to keep me busy and get my mind off food.

I wish I had started taking my measurements back when I started in January, but I didn't start until May. However... here are my changes from May 1st, June 1st and then July 1st:

May 1st:
Bicep- 19"  Chest- 48.5"  Waist- 45/5"  Butt- 55.5"  Thigh- 33"  Calf- 20"
June 1st:
Bicep- 17.5"  Chest- 47.5"  Waist- 44.5"  Butt- 54.5"  Thigh- 31.5"  Calf- 17.5"
July 1st:
Bicep- 16.5"  Chest- 46"  Waist- 44.5"  Butt- 53"  Thigh- 29.5"  Calf- 16.5"

My new goal is to try to reach my 75 pounds lost mark by Halloween and my 100 pounds lost mark by my 1 year anniversary on Weight Watchers.

You can follow my journey on Instagram: cats_ww_adventure

:D